Service Held For Two Coast Guard Cadets Killed In Crash

Tim Cook / Associated Press

Photos and ceremonial uniforms in honor of first class cadet Soso Makaridze and third class cadet Besarion Gorjoladze, from the Republic of Georgia, take center stage as the United States Coast Guard Academy holds a memorial service in New London.

Photos and ceremonial uniforms in honor of first class cadet Soso Makaridze and third class cadet Besarion Gorjoladze, from the Republic of Georgia, take center stage as the United States Coast Guard Academy holds a memorial service in New London. (Tim Cook / Associated Press)

Associated Press

Hundreds come to New London for memorial service honoring cadets killed in crash.

NEW LONDON (AP) - Hundreds of people gathered for a ceremony in Connecticut to honor the lives of two Coast Guard Academy cadets from the Republic of Georgia who were killed in a car accident last month.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and the Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Paul Zukunft, were among the crowd at the New London academy Wednesday paying respects to cadets Soso Makaridze and Besarion Gorjoladze. Their families also attended.

The two exchange students were passengers in a car involved in a head-on crash with another vehicle March 7 in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, north of Trenton.

A fellow cadet from the country of Georgia told the crowd that Makaridze and Gorjoladze enjoyed making people laugh and lived their dream of attending the academy.